After losing in 18 innings Sunday, the Padres desperately needed someone to step up last night in the finale of a disappointing homestand.

Instead, they came up with two heroes.

Jake Peavy, who earlier this season threw a complete game the day after a 17-inning marathon, once again rescued an overworked bullpen by going seven innings to pick up his fourth win in his past five starts.

And Kevin Kouzmanoff snapped out of a 3-for-24 drought, driving in four runs with a pair of two-out hits — both of which immediately followed walks to Adrian Gonzalez — as the Padres defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-3 before 17,501 at Petco Park.

Yesterday's win gave the Padres a split of the four-game series with the Diamondbacks and a second victory on the seven-game homestand.

Peavy, who departed his previous start after one inning because of a viral upper respiratory infection, allowed three runs on seven hits while throwing 105 pitches.

In addition to still being weakened by the respiratory ailment, Peavy was also operating on a tender right ankle — visibly hobbling several times during the game because of the inflamed tendon that first bothered him on May 22.

But his effort came as “no surprise” to Padres manager Bud Black.

“I knew I had to give it at least seven innings,” said Peavy, who admitted he is something less than 100 percent.

“I was basically on the shelf for 10 days,” Peavy said. “I'm getting a little strength back. As for the ankle, running is not fun. Coming off the mound and making plays are more uncomfortable than pitch by pitch.

“But I'm good. I'll be out there Saturday.”

Peavy's win last night moved him into a tie with Randy Jones for second on the all-time Padres wins list (92).

As for the Padres' offense, hitters both in front and behind the major league home run leader made the Diamondbacks pay for continuing the weeklong Adrian Gonzalez walkathon.

Last night marked the club-record, seventh straight game in which Gonzalez had drawn at least two walks — giving him a total of 16 walks on the homestand.

And until last night, opponents had paid no price for walking Gonzalez.

Then Kouzmanoff capped a four-run fifth with a two-run single to right after Diamondbacks starter Jon Garland pitched around — and eventually walked — Gonzalez to get to the struggling third baseman.

Kouzmanoff's first-pitch line drive, which scored Brian Giles and Tony Gwynn, broke up a 2-2 tie. The Padres trailed 2-0 going into the inning, but tied the game on Gwynn's single and a sacrifice fly to center by David Eckstein.

In the seventh, with the Padres protecting a 4-3 lead, Kouzmanoff doubled to left center — just beyond the awkward lunge of Eric Byrnes — scoring Gwynn and Gonzalez immediately after Garland had intentionally walked the first baseman.

As rivals have taken to walking Gonzalez almost half the time he comes to the plate, Black has stressed the importance of the hitters both in front and behind Gonzalez picking up the slack.

“Adrian has done a nice job of not caving into the expanded (strike) zone,” Black said. “A couple more games like tonight and pitchers will have to re-evaluate.”

Until Kouzmanoff's back-to-back, run-scoring blows, the hitter immediately following a Gonzalez walk was 1-for-13 with one walk over the past seven games and Kouzmanoff himself had grounded into two double plays in such situations.

And the second hitter in line had gone 1-for-10 with one RBI — that coming when Chase Headley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded Saturday night.

“The more you see Kouz come up with big hits, the more guys are going to think twice about walking Gonzalez,” Peavy said. “We believe in Kouz and Chase, those guys have struggled a bit.”

“Teams are going to pitch Adrian awful tough for what he's doing,” said Black. “It's important from a lineup concept that the guys in front do get on as well as the guys behind him.

“That's what happened today (runners in front of Gonzalez reached base five times). That's the thing that is going to have to happen if pitchers continue to do that (walk Gonzalez).